Red-legged Kittiwake (Rissa brevirostris) | Photos and ID

VUVulnerableFish

MarinePlatform nestLarge · 377 g

Red-legged Kittiwake (Rissa brevirostris), photo 4 — Photo: Константин Шатилов · CC BY 4.0

Red-legged Kittiwake (Rissa brevirostris), photo 7 — Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author · Public domain

ID tip

The red-legged kittiwake is a very localised subarctic Pacific species. Apart from the distinguishing feature implicit in its name, it is very similar to its better-known relative, the black-legged kittiwake; other differences include the shorter bill, larger eyes, a larger, rounder head, and darker gray wings, and in the juveniles, which barely differ from the adults, lacking the black tail band and "W" across the wings of juvenile black-legged kittiwakes. Juveniles take three years to reach maturity.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Red-legged Kittiwake

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 5 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is June, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Red-legged Kittiwake

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 3 countries with regular records, and 1 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

United States Russia Japan

Recorded as a rare visitor in Canada.

About the Red-legged Kittiwake

The red-legged kittiwake is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae. It breeds in the Pribilof Islands, Bogoslof Island, and Buldir Island in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska, and the Commander Islands, Russia, and spends the winter at sea.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Black-legged KittiwakeRissa tridactylaThe red-legged kittiwake is the only other species in the genus Rissa and can be differentiated from its counterpart by its red legs, as the name suggests.

Side by side: Black-legged Kittiwake vs Red-legged Kittiwake

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